Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Day 2 - At Sea

I upgraded my internet and now I can send and receive pictures.  I should have done that day one.  The speed is good for internet at sea.  Thank you Starlink and Elon Musk!


We received a bottle of champagne, a fruit basket, a plate of chocolates and a goodie bag!  The Ritchie Bros goodie bag had a hat, two t-shirts, a deck of cards, a crib board, two Ritchie Bros, name tags and a memory book!  


Here is the first night's dinner menu.  You now must pay for some meals.  Mike ordered surf and turf and it looked delicious.  I'm sure Cec will order it one night.  We both had the Roasted Leg of Lamb, and it was excellent.  I had escargot to start and apple pie for dessert.  So far, the food has been excellent.

Bean Toss in the atrium, passengers vs. officers!  


This ship has glass blowing on the 15th floor outdoors!  Previously it was a display from the glass blowers from Corning.  Now it's classes in glass blowing.  This is Sherry making a gorgeous vase!  It took 20 minutes, and she had a lot of help from the pros.  

We also went to trivia, the naturalist talk, and a nice film on glaciers over the years.

Last night was the first of three cocktail parties.  I worked for Ritchie Bros. for twenty years.  The motto was "Work Hard, Have Fun, Be Honest".   That is what we all did, and it was fun.  Dave Ritchie and Russ Cmolick decided to have this reunion.  They started planning it in 2019 and then COVID came.  They couldn't get hotels with enough rooms, and then decided, "let's do a cruise".  They invited 575 people and paid for everything for all of us.  I have been reacquainted with so many people I worked with around the world.  The company started in 1958 in Kelowna, I joined in 1990 when it was still small and watched it become a huge international company.  We are all overwhelmed at the generosity of these two gentlemen.  

And the fun continues!


It's time for Aunty Acid